Seeking Humanity
by Rejected Angel
Summary: What if Ed and Al paid a slightly…different price? -"Aren't you a little short for a vampire?" A vein popped dangerously on the blond boy's forehead, "WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN ULTRA-SUPER-HYPERACTIVE-CHIBI?"- It's a vampire fic…with a difference!


Seeking Humanity

Summary: What if Ed and Al paid a slightly…different price? -"Aren't you a little short for a vampire?" A vein popped dangerously on the blond boy's forehead, "WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN ULTRA-SUPER-HYPERACTIVE-CHIBI?!"- It's a vampire fic…with a difference!

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Full Metal (or Fullmetal) Alchemist.

A/N: Come on, it was inevitable! Somebody was going to do it- I just figured I may as well try my hand at one of these in the FMA category before it got aired on Cartoon Network, or too clichéd. I've read a couple of these in the Inuyasha, Naruto and Yugioh sections of the site, and found something that thoroughly got to me…okay, WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE CHARACTERS?! Sheesh, just 'cause somebody became a vampire it doesn't mean that they now can become completely OOC. Of course, there are fics that are exceptions to this, but after a couple of hundred that are not exceptions, it gets a bit agitating. So you can rest assured; Al is still Al, and Ed is still Ed (of course, being in a semi-human body to hit puberty might change Al's attitude a bit…and the whole 'vampire' thing can make them go flirtier and/or psycho on occasion, but that's about it). So, with that being said: Enjoy the fic!

**PLEASE READ THESE:**

Warnings: This is an AU retelling of the series, which essentially means two things: Firstly, there WILL be spoilers for pretty much everything in the show. And secondly, just like in the series, while at times this fic will be quite light hearted- but it gets dark, at times…really dark (especially when our boys go into vampire mode).

Pairings: Possible Al/Winry, Ed/Winry, Ed/Roze and an Al/Winry/Ed love triangle. Possibly others if I can think of them, but no shounen ai (as much as I love it…I have absolutely no clue how to write it). And please, don't swamp me with reviews requesting pairings- the focus of this fic is not romance…and if a pairing does pop up, it will be to further the story and will not become the center of it. I don't mind of you suggest one as part of a larger review though. But bear in mind, there could very well be none at all (save for the given ones, such as Trisha/Hohenheim).

Chapter one:

"Water: 35 liters. Carbon: 20 kilograms. Ammonia: 4 liters. Lime: 1.4 kilograms."

"Phosphorus: 800 grams. Salt: 250 grams. Niter: 100 grams. Fluorine: 7.5 grams. Iron: 5 grams. Silicon: 3 grams."

"These are the elements that make up one adult human body, and this is the construction equation. We will call back mom's spirit, and bind the soul to the body."

A blond haired boy of about eleven held onto a long piece of chalk looking very pleased with himself. Before him was a circle within which was drawn a very complicated pattern of geometrical shapes. Close to him was another blond boy, although he had a rounder face with darker (and shorter) hair. The first boy grinned over at the other, saying excitedly,

"Alright, it's ready. Lets get started Al." The other smiled and nodded.

"Niisan(1), are you sure this will work? Alchemy is done with equivalent trade, right? What are we going to use to transmute the soul?" The elder boy picked up a knife that lay next to the circle.

"Stick out your forefinger." He lightly pierced his index finger, wincing slightly. Al, although still confused, followed suit. They both held out their injured hands over a metal container in the center of the circle, allowing a single drop of blood to fall in. "This is the soul's…information." The blood made contact, leaving a dark red stain in the dark-gray concoction where it landed. "This should be it. Lets do it, Al."

Both boys placed their hands on the circumference of the circle, and soon it was charged with energy. The elder grinned as a swirling vortex of energy began to encircle the container in the center.

However, his grin was quickly cut short as the energy now filling the room took on a much darker hue. The room seemed to be filled with wind, and one of the vials on a nearby table fell to the ground and shattered.

"Niisan, something's wrong!" It was then that Al gave a strangled cry of pain and terror. Edward looked to the side, desperately calling out his brother's name, but was soon faced with an unbearable pain in his leg.

"Niisan!" He looked up to see Al caught in the grips of some kind of portal, his eyes wide with horror. "Niisan!" Al began to fight the force pulling him, arms reaching for Edward. "Niisan! NIISAN!"

"AL!" Edward reached for his brother's outstretched arm, only to watch, horrified, as his body disappeared. He was panicking with tears in his eyes. Partly from the pain in his left leg, partly out of shock. He looked to the center of the circle, and saw a mass of disfigured bones, organs and flesh. He promptly heaved.

Thinking as best he could with his now panic-fogged brain, he snatched a pen from the nearest table and drew three new circles: One on his right arm, one on his right leg and one on his heart. Talking to no-one in particular he said,

"I'll give you all of these…just give Al back to me!" With that, he activated them, and soon felt excruciating pain in his right arm. However, there was a bright flash of blinding light. Then, all he heard was,

"Niisan…I'm hungry…" And after that… there was darkness.

* * *

A short boy with long, braided blond hair and golden eyes tramped wearily over a sea of seemingly endless sand, finally collapsing facedown in exhaustion. What he said was slightly muffled by the sand beneath him.

"Gah…I'm so hungry! If there was another person wandering around here or something…then maybe we could use him." Another boy, taller than him, with short, darker blond hair and green eyes, hastily hauled him to his feet.

"Niisan, even if there _was _another person…if we used the water in his body to transmute him more blood he may just die from dehydration. I don't want to kill anyone, and neither do you, so we'll have to hold off until we reach Lior." These two boys were Edward and Alphonse Elric- state alchemists.

So, hunger driving them, they continued on, and eventually they came to civilization. They continued into the city and quickly ducked into an alleyway. Both of them pulled up the hoods of their respective coats, masking their faces in shadow. They then carefully position themselves in the darkest part of the alley, where their images were most obscured.

"Okay, Al, lets find somebody quick. I feel helpless not being able to use alchemy just 'cause I'm hungry." They waited, and soon spotted an agreeable looking middle-aged man.

"There! He looks like he might cooperate Niisan." Edward nodded and stepped out of the alleyway, quickly grabbing the man from behind and dragging him back towards it. He had a hand over his mouth to stop him from screaming, and when he released it, the man promptly shouted,

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Apparently this man was not intimidated easily. Al was the first to speak, careful to make his voice different.

"Listen, ojiisan(2), we need a favor…" Edward, nodding, stepped forward. He too disguised his voice as he continued,

"We're hungry, you see, and we kind of…feed off of human blood. The thing is, we don't like to kill people, and we don't like hurting them either…" Al once again began to talk; it appeared they had used this speech many times before.

"So that's where you come in. You see, no matter what happens, we _are _going to feed off of you…but we would prefer it if we didn't have to knock you out first…" Ed took the helm again.

"So you have one of two choices. Either you can cooperate, and get a little bit hurt- or you don't, and you get hurt much worse. Don't worry though, either way, we won't kill you. Like I said before, we don't like killing people." The reaction they received was one they were definitely not expecting…the man burst into laughter.

They stood there for a good two minutes, watching as tears of mirth began to stream down his face. He finally stopped after he began to hyperventilate though, and said something that made it apparent that not everything about them was obscured by the shadows,

"Aren't you a little short for a vampire?" A vein popped dangerously on the blond-haired boy's forehead.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN ULTRA-SUPER-HYPERACTIVE-CHIBI?!" Al face-faulted- barely managing to contain laughter of his own.

"Niisan…you know that isn't what he said." Scowling, Edward calmed down, although he was still breathing harder then normal. He was obviously still angry by the way he addressed the man when he said,

"Alright jiji(3), you still haven't answered our question. So, what is your answer?" The man smiled good-naturedly and turned to walk away.

"You children and your pranks. What's to answer? There's no such thing as vampires, especially in this city! The sun god Leto would never allow such a thing." Edward and Alphonse exchanged looks and nodded at one-another. Then, Edward stepped forward and used his right hand to hit a certain pressure point on the man's neck, effectively knocking him out.

"Well, Al…let's eat."

* * *

A/N: Well, how is it? Good? Bad? Review and tell me what you think!

(1) Niisan- Older Brother

(2) Ojiisan- A polite way of saying 'old man'.

(3) Jiji- Old geezer.


End file.
